Dairy Feed Workshop in Bogor

Jan 29, 2016

More than 60 participants attended a lively workshop on dairy feed improvements held on the 28th of January 2016 at the Botani Conference Centre in Bogor. The support initiatives under the DIFS-Live programme related to roughage, concentrates and feed management improvements were discussed. Representatives of amongst others the dairy farming sector, animal feed industry, milk processing industry, national and local Government agencies, Institut Pertanian Bogor, financial institutes, dairy cooperatives and Wageningen UR participated at the workshop.

Dr Nasrullah, Director Animal Feed, at the Ministry of Agriculture opened the workshop, followed by Ms Lucie Wassink, Agricultural Counsellor at the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta. Dr Nasrullah stressed the need of import substitution so that Indonesia could achieve half of its milk consumption with domestic production by 2020. He recommended that dairy farmers get access to better quality forage and start also with the preservation of forage to better cover the dry season feed requirements. He gratefully acknowledged the support given by the Dutch Government to the DIFS-Live programme. Ms Lucie Wassink explained in her opening address that cooperation between the different stakeholders and between dairy farmers themselves should drive the growth and development in the dairy sector. She was happy to see that so many different stakeholders were represented.

Other speakers at the workshop included Mr Bram Wouters of Wageningen Livestock Research, Professor Luki Abdullah of IPB Animal Production Faculty, Mr Amin Sutiarto of PT Trouw Nutrition and Frank Joosten of Advance Consulting. Together they explained the objectives and the different DIFS Live support initiatives in the dairy sector of West Java. Different pilot activities are being implemented at the dairy cooperatives Saluyu in Kuningan District and Cikajang in Garut District. The ultimate aim is to raise milk production and farmers’ income levels.

The afternoon was concluded with a lively discussion session. Participants made suggestions how the programme could be further improved and expressed interest in participating and supporting the programme.